Freeze Over-Ripe Bananas - Frugal Friday Tip #1

My Frugal Friday Tip #1, don’t throw over-ripe bananas in the trash – instead, freeze them!

My Frugal Friday Tip #1, don't throw over-ripe bananas in the trash – instead, freeze them! Click To Tweet

Is it just me or do you also have a bunch of very ripe bananas leftover at the end of the week? There are so many ways you can use over-ripe bananas – instead of throwing them away. Before I dive in too far I need to tell you about something first!

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How To Freeze Over-Ripe Bananas

If you are anything like me, you have a few over-ripe bananas sitting on your counter. We almost always have bananas on hand at our house because my oldest son loves them. Which means, we almost always have some that are getting too ripe.

Instead of throwing them away – freeze over-ripe bananas!

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Katrina, how do you freeze them? I’m so glad you asked!

It’s really simple actually. All you need to do is take off the banana peel and either freeze them whole (which is what I like to do so I know how many I’m using for a recipe), or chop each banana up into thirds.

Then, you place them in a ziplock gallon-sized bag or plastic food storage containers and stick them in your freezer! Super simple! I have my baggie of whole peeled bananas in the bottom drawer of my freezer, so it’s easy to reach, and so I can add to it each week with any over-ripe bananas we have.

Use Over-Ripe Bananas For Banana Bread

One of my favorite ways to use over-ripe bananas is for banana bread. This is my favorite recipe for Classic Banana Bread – you have to give it a try! It’s delicious!

I like to use frozen bananas by defrosting them in the microwave and then blending them up into a nice puree in a food processor or blender.

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I also like to omit the nuts and add chocolate chips instead, chocolate really does make everything better – don’t you think?!

Make A Banana Smoothie

You can also use frozen bananas for smoothies and you won’t be sorry! I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand adding ice to my smoothies – I’d much rather use frozen fruit!

Plus, the riper the banana, the sweeter they get – so my advice, leave them to ripen on your counter until they are pretty dark and mushy, then take off the peel and freeze them.

My favorite smoothie flavor is Banana Peanut Butter. Just add a few bananas, a scoop of creamy peanut butter, milk, and blend until smooth! It’s so good! My kids love smoothies as an afternoon snack and you can truly make them as healthy as you want. I always try to sneak in some spinach or kale too!

How To Save Money On Bananas

If you don’t have over-ripe bananas at home, but you want to make some banana bread or a yummy smoothie, I’d recommend heading out to your grocery store and locating the produce markdown section.

Bananas ripen so quickly, that they tend to mark them down on a very consistent basis. If you don’t see any in markdown area, just ask. A lot of times the store will see over-ripe bananas for a discount. Trust me, it never hurts to ask!

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There are bunch of other ways to save money at the grocery store that I’d love to share with you, my favorite being, Why You Should Never Use Grocery Delivery or Pick Up Services.